Saturday, December 31, 2011

Whatever you believe about 2012, there's no doubt that both human and non-human communities are changing rapidly. And that large numbers of us expect further, profound change of some kind to happen. That expectation alone is going to have tremendous influence in the coming months.

I do not believe in predicting the future, I believe in intending it and collaboratively creating it. Part of my preparation for navigating the coming passage in human consciousness is to cultivate my awareness of my own goodness. Here are some of the thoughts I focus on often...

I am a human being and I come from the Source. The Source that made me is good, and I am a good emanation of that Source. My heart is good. My yoni (Sanskrit word for female genitals) is good. My pancreas is good. My mouth is good.

I work with the aspects of my body that for various reasons have lost the completeness of their connection to their natural goodness.

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I learn what goodness looks like in action by observing natural/physical/biological intelligence in action.

Unlike humanity, natural/physical/biological intelligence always perseveres in expressing the goodness of the Source. In my view, one of the particular challenges of being human is to know we are good and to choose to express our goodness. The other life forms basically "just do it." We get to choose.

Even when natural/physical/biological intelligence is deviated from the goodness of the Source by our pollution, pillage, and genetic modification, it persists in reflecting the goodness of the Source by demonstrating to us that polluting and pillaging and genetic modifying do not support all life and vitality in the way that undeviated natural/physical/biological intelligence does.

You and I can learn, and change. Or we can suffer from lowered life force and vitality. Natural/physical/biological intelligence supports us either way.... by showing us what works, and by showing us what doesn't work.

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I come from Source, and I am good. I choose to learn how to express my intrinsic goodness, gifted to me from the Source.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

"...you might well like to be reminded of the fact that within every tone... exists a series of tones... in alignment with your thinking, there is 'naturally' existing diversity within unity and unity within diversity."

The video following demonstrates one way to create with these tones that are "embedded" in all sounds.

In this 50-second rendition of "Amazing Grace," the singer uses techniques of Tuvan throat singing to amplify various tones that are always present inside the fundamental tone that he sings—these "already present'" tones are called overtones. He amplifies one overtone after another to create the melody of this well known song. The fascinating part of all this is that ALL the tones he needs to create the melody are always present as harmonics or overtones of the fundamental pitch (the low sound he maintains throughout). He's basically making movements in his mouth and throat that allow him to choose among those tones.

Watching this video inspired me to think on the question, "What is amazing grace?"

When I hurtle down a highway in a car, and see trees growing in the median, living 24/7 amidst pollution, noise, and people who barely notice them, I see amazing grace in action.

When I see bees enthusiastically burrowing into flowers, helping create the seeds and fruits that will nourish another generation of people and animals, despite the fact that millions, if not billions, of them have recently died from pesticides and other factors that encourage colony collapse disorder, I see amazing grace in action.

When I hear crows calling to each other across my suburban town, staying in touch through the transformation of their world into a sea of monoculture lawns and roofs, I hear amazing grace in action.

Truly, I am profoundly amazed some days that life still thrives on this planet. I'm not saying this to engender shame feelings in any of us humans (though more sensitivity to our authentic shame here and there with respect to the disrespect we show the other life forms could help our situation out!) I'm saying all this mainly to inspire you to receive the amazing grace that natural/physical/biological intelligence offers you. Let Nature give to you what Nature wants to give you... and then mutuality will arise between you and Nature... and the life force will flourish ever more exuberantly.****************************************

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Do you love and respect the feminine energy currents within you and within others?Here's one simple way to start exploring the question... how do you feel about menstruation and the menstrual cycle in general?From my perspective, the menstrual cycle is a core structure in the "feminine wing" of humanity. But it sure doesn't get to contribute to our collective evolution very much, at least on the conscious levels.Instead, men and women alike are taught that menstruation is shameful, taboo, and almost inevitably painful.I have profoundly challenged these ideas in my life and found that menstruation can be an ecstatically pleasurable experience, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. If you are interested in knowing more about how to get there yourself, feel free to email me... I'm happy to send you an article I've written on this subject.Here's an ad about the "feminine wing," which I offer in a spirit of playfulness... please note that I personally do not recommend the use of menstrual pads made from bleached, artificial, and synthetic materials.I consider my yoni to be a place designed to give life and birth, not to be rubbed against materials that have been excessively manipulated in what I consider an unbalanced direction. I just couldn't resist though, the word play involved in imagining a maxi pad that has wings! I'd love to see awareness of the power of the menstrual cycle "take flight" across the globe, so that humanity can access the wisdom and life force inherent in this feminine life process.

When the cell receptor site embraces the hormone, the cell activates.When the agenda book receives the writing of the pen, the person has a "to do" list—a list filled, one hopes, with pleasurable activities.

Humans have a much wider range of choice than the other beings on the planet. Such a wide range, in fact, that we are capable of moving against the flows of Divinely inspired creativity, justice, wisdom, and love.We are also capable of dragging other beings along with us on such ill-advised paths.When we misuse the interaction of feminine and masculine, we wound ourselves in the most profound ways.The embrace of the masculine by the feminine and the gifting into the feminine by the masculine are intimate and vulnerable procedures. Amongst humans, these procedures can be used to facilitate everything from respectful, loving connection to petty thievery to plunder and rape. Any pleasure gained from thievery or rape is of extremely low quality and will severely impact the viability of the bodies of the people involved. This is similar to how the embrace of the mouth around a low quality food will severely impact the viability of the body attached to that mouth.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

When I question them, I often find though that their understanding of harmony is unrealistic.

From a musical perspective, harmony is a skilled and creative use of difference.

Two or more different pitches (some higher, some lower) are sounded at the same time, and the relationships between these different pitches are harmonious.

The word harmony originates with the Greekharmonía, which means joint,framework,agreement. This word is akintohárma, chariot,harmós,joint, and ararískein,tojoin together.

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A critical musical skill is being able to "hold your own" while someone else makes different sounds than you are making. Only when both of you are centered in your individual sounds, can you "join together" to make harmony.

In large musical groups, people may be making many different pitches (higher or lower sounds) and rhythms simultaneously. When the people are skilled, the end result sounds harmonious and beautiful.

I invite you to consider the realities of harmony next time you think that peace on this planet can be created by the denial, suppression, overlooking, or dismissal of difference. (Which strikes me as the general strategy being attempted in too many cases.)

You are not the same as your neighbor. An oak tree is not the same as a squirrel. One spiritual path does not brings its adherents to the same destination as another.

By definition, we cannot create harmony as long as we try to deny the truth of difference with nice sounding platitudes about how we're all "the same underneath." It's also interesting to me that we feel so threatened by difference. I believe we are confused. We think that disharmony is created by difference, rather than by lack of skill in working with difference.

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True unity of human hearts and minds will occur when we ALL accept one another's differences and learn how to make skilled, creative use of those differences to bring us ALL into greater states of aliveness and pleasure. Those who refuse to take ALL into account, eventually find themselves starved for music.

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One of my favorite musical forms is Georgian polyphony. The following video, featuring the Georgian Harmony Choir and the sun gives you a short (2:39) introduction to this amazing music. It's immediately obvious that to succeed in forming this harmonious sonic tapestry, each singer has to be able to make his or her sound while also carefully listening to the other singers.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

I'm not trying to raise funds for the women whose video I play below (they posted this on Kickstarter)... I just really like this design idea—it reminds me of the incredible metamorphic abilities of natural/physical/biological intelligence. Natural/physical/biological intelligence knows all about using the same cloth/material to create different form/function packages.

Nature is...the ultimate in versatility.

The video about the Versalette is 2:18 in length, followed by Swedish caterpillars demonstrating their metamorphic abilities in a time lapse video that's 2:25 minutes long. The Swedish caterpillars turn into amazingly beautiful Swedish butterflies that I've never had the privilege of seeing before.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

By "pleasure" I mean enlivened feelings that are in alignment with my life purposes and my physical vitality.

Many so-called pleasures lose their allure when considered from this larger context.

When we consciously work with natural/biological/physical intelligence to gain guidance on how to embody our life purposes and increase our energy and vitality, our pleasure expands steadily, along a balanced, non-addicted path.

To me, this pleasure is valuable beyond words, because it is a whole-body experience, that extends from the atomic and subatomic particles that make up my internal organs, to the outer reaches of my electromagnetic structures. When we experience pleasure, we rightfully want more of it. We start noticing which ways of living dampen pleasure, and which ways of living strengthen it, and our creativity is sparked—we work on figuring out how to create more pleasure.

If all of us insisted daily on experiencing more pleasure, pleasure that enlivens us, many grave and potentially disastrous problems on Planet Earth would be solved quickly. For example if we were seriously committed to our own pleasure, I doubt many of us would want to wear clothing whose manufacture involved suffering. And as the singer in the video below reminds us, there's a fine line between pleasure and pain! What looks so good on the rack might not be as appealing if we researched who made it and how. Deception, secrecy (when's the last time you found a clothing tag with a picture of the factory on it?) and seduction are very powerful forces when combined with an anticipation of pleasure—"that dress is gonna look great on me!"Please don't misunderstand me. I take great pleasure in seeing and wearing beautiful clothes. What I'm exploring here is the question of what pleasure and beauty look like when we take the whole of a situation into account.